On HOF assistants, Vick, live blog

The passing of Jim Johnson, the Eagles defensive coordinator who succumbed to cancer at age 68 Tuesday, will bring a blitz of tears and condolences the next couple of days.

It should also beg the question why the NFL Hall of Fame doesn't have a wing for great assistants coaches or general managers.

Johnson, a man who believed in attacking, confusing defense, would be forever enshrined in that wing were it to exist. And that leads me to this on a Dolphins blog:

What current or former Dolphins assistant coach or general manager type would be worthy of being enshrined in that wing?

Off the top of my head I will give you two names and let you add others at your discretion. I think Joe Thomas would be in that wing for having put together the NFL's only perfect team, the 1972-73 Dolphins, and then the better-than-perfect team of 1973-74 that followed. (Yeah, I think the '73-'74 Dolphins were better than the team from the year before.)

Anyway, I think we should all agree Bill Arnsparger, who coached Miami defenders through much of the 1970s and into the early 1980s would also qualify for that HOF wing. Arnsparger was the innovator of the famed 53-defense. He was the man who turned a group of no-names into one of the most dominant units of its day. He was simply a genius for his work with defenders.

Now it's your turn. Give me names of Miami assistants or GM types that would belong in the Hall of Fame.

On another matter, at least one local columnist has written it would have been a good idea to have Michael Vick sign with the Dolphins. Um, wrong.

As I wrote on May 23 (check the blog archives) it wasn't going to happen because Vick represents everything the Dolphins are not. They are not about the circus atmosphere. They are not about drama. They are not about doing crazy, irresponsible, desperate things.

Signing Vick would have been all about those negative things. So not signing Vick was the smart and correct call. Period.

[Blog note: Remember there is a live chat on this blog at 3 p.m. Wednesday. We'll go as long as there are questions. If you cannot be here during the chat, leave your questions in the comments section and I'll answer them in order they appear. We did an hourlong chat on twitter.com Tuesday. You missed it if you aren't following me. So follow me, I implore you, at twitter.com/armandosalguero.]